Read Online A Company of Heroes Book Four: The Scientist by Ron Miller - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Ron Miller
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the sole passenger. If you dropped out, the Academy would be stormed!”
“You exaggerate.”
“There would be delay, without doubt, and we cannot allow even a moment’s delay. No, no, I won’t hear of your not going.”
“All right, all right, forget it,” the princess replied a little testily and the professor looked at her sharply.
“My dear young friend,” he said, “whatever has been the matter with you lately?”
“I’ve been fine.”
“I must disagree,” he said kindly, sitting down on the edge of the one of the couches. “Although psychiatry could not be further removed from my field, there’s no mystery that something is troubling you. Your emotions are simply too transparent. Is it Gyven?”
“No. Yes. I don’t know.” She sat on the opposite couch, placed her elbows on her knees and cupped her chin in the palms of her hands. “I really don’t know, Professor; I’ve felt so . . . lost lately, so confused, so useless. I’ve been walking around in a fog, not knowing what to do, what I’m doing or what I’m going to do. Nor even what questions to ask. Nothing seems to really interest me; at the same time, I’m restless and bored.”
“And you miss Gyven?”
“Of course I do. No, I take that back. I’m not even sure of that any more. Do you know, I haven’t even thought much about him these last few days? Maybe not even for the last few weeks. I don’t remember how much I was thinking of him even when he was here and I don’t know if I feel bad about it. Is that wrong?”
“I don’t know. Perhaps it wouldn’t be if you had someone else to think about.”
“But wouldn’t that be more wrong? I still love Gyven and even if I didn’t, I still care about him very much. He’s done nothing intentionally to hurt me . . . ”
“Except to ignore you?”
“Well, yes, but I don’t think that he meant that to hurt me.”
“Look here, Princess,” Wittenoom said, his long body folding onto the couch next to her like a carpenter’s rule, “may I tell you what I think?”
“Of course you can.”
“I believe that you may have outgrown Gyven. He was exactly what you needed at the time you needed him. And he helped you become much of what you are, but in doing so he also changed you, and in changing you he made himself obsolete. Gyven was like the training wheels on the bicycle of your life.”
“But it seems so unfair to him! It’s as though I’ve used him and am tossing him aside.”
“Perhaps, but I don’t think that the situation is anything at all as calculatingly cold-blooded as that. No. You haven’t cold-heartedly cast him to the wayside, you have only weaned yourself from your need for Gyven, which of course doesn’t mean that you don’t need somebody. Everyone does. Even a misanthrope at least needs someone if only to have someone to hate. It is a rare and fortunate individual who discovers just one, single person who fills all of their needs all of their life.”
“Have you?”
“I did once.”
“I’m sorry!” said Bronwyn, instantly contrite, “I didn’t mean to . . .”
“No, it’s all right. I may not be a very good example, I don’t know. My . . . person . . . was so overflowing of everything that I ever needed that even though she’s been gone for many, many years she still continues to satisfy and help me.” For the briefest moment, the text of the only love poem he had ever written passed blurrily before the professor’s myopic eyes . . .
O sweet agglomeration of cells
In whom a summary beauty dwells,
O rarer much are you to me
Than globule animalculæ!
Come, come, be mine, and we will tread
Where tortuous fungi never spread.
Then will the fever of our bliss
Destroy bacilli in our kiss.
. . . as though he were seeing the meticulously-scrivened paper itself. His Great Love had never replied and, in fact, he had never seen her since.
“Anyway, it’s unfair to yourself to be compared with me,” he continued as he squeezed
“You exaggerate.”
“There would be delay, without doubt, and we cannot allow even a moment’s delay. No, no, I won’t hear of your not going.”
“All right, all right, forget it,” the princess replied a little testily and the professor looked at her sharply.
“My dear young friend,” he said, “whatever has been the matter with you lately?”
“I’ve been fine.”
“I must disagree,” he said kindly, sitting down on the edge of the one of the couches. “Although psychiatry could not be further removed from my field, there’s no mystery that something is troubling you. Your emotions are simply too transparent. Is it Gyven?”
“No. Yes. I don’t know.” She sat on the opposite couch, placed her elbows on her knees and cupped her chin in the palms of her hands. “I really don’t know, Professor; I’ve felt so . . . lost lately, so confused, so useless. I’ve been walking around in a fog, not knowing what to do, what I’m doing or what I’m going to do. Nor even what questions to ask. Nothing seems to really interest me; at the same time, I’m restless and bored.”
“And you miss Gyven?”
“Of course I do. No, I take that back. I’m not even sure of that any more. Do you know, I haven’t even thought much about him these last few days? Maybe not even for the last few weeks. I don’t remember how much I was thinking of him even when he was here and I don’t know if I feel bad about it. Is that wrong?”
“I don’t know. Perhaps it wouldn’t be if you had someone else to think about.”
“But wouldn’t that be more wrong? I still love Gyven and even if I didn’t, I still care about him very much. He’s done nothing intentionally to hurt me . . . ”
“Except to ignore you?”
“Well, yes, but I don’t think that he meant that to hurt me.”
“Look here, Princess,” Wittenoom said, his long body folding onto the couch next to her like a carpenter’s rule, “may I tell you what I think?”
“Of course you can.”
“I believe that you may have outgrown Gyven. He was exactly what you needed at the time you needed him. And he helped you become much of what you are, but in doing so he also changed you, and in changing you he made himself obsolete. Gyven was like the training wheels on the bicycle of your life.”
“But it seems so unfair to him! It’s as though I’ve used him and am tossing him aside.”
“Perhaps, but I don’t think that the situation is anything at all as calculatingly cold-blooded as that. No. You haven’t cold-heartedly cast him to the wayside, you have only weaned yourself from your need for Gyven, which of course doesn’t mean that you don’t need somebody. Everyone does. Even a misanthrope at least needs someone if only to have someone to hate. It is a rare and fortunate individual who discovers just one, single person who fills all of their needs all of their life.”
“Have you?”
“I did once.”
“I’m sorry!” said Bronwyn, instantly contrite, “I didn’t mean to . . .”
“No, it’s all right. I may not be a very good example, I don’t know. My . . . person . . . was so overflowing of everything that I ever needed that even though she’s been gone for many, many years she still continues to satisfy and help me.” For the briefest moment, the text of the only love poem he had ever written passed blurrily before the professor’s myopic eyes . . .
O sweet agglomeration of cells
In whom a summary beauty dwells,
O rarer much are you to me
Than globule animalculæ!
Come, come, be mine, and we will tread
Where tortuous fungi never spread.
Then will the fever of our bliss
Destroy bacilli in our kiss.
. . . as though he were seeing the meticulously-scrivened paper itself. His Great Love had never replied and, in fact, he had never seen her since.
“Anyway, it’s unfair to yourself to be compared with me,” he continued as he squeezed
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